Perceived Risk of falls among Acute Care Patients

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Wafa Hassan Essa Miqdam
Reem Ali Othman Sfiani
Kholud Ali Mohammed Alshehri
Etemad M ELyass Eisa
Tahany Ahmed Mohammed Mahnash
Zainab Ahmed Mohammed Alnahwi
Seham Meesh Thamil Alharbi
Abeer Sultan Saad Aldarsoni
Shahad Ahmed R Alsamel
Naif Hamoud Dh Alotaibi
Azizah Hamad J Alanazi
Jamal Metrib M Alghareeb
Majed Mohammad Alhenaki
Fahad Abdullah S Alruthaya
Hammad Egab Almutairi

Abstract

Purpose: In an effort to lower the number of falls that occur among hospitalized patients, several facilities have begun introducing various fall prevention programs. However, the efficacy of fall prevention programs is diminished if patients do not consider themselves to be at risk for falls and do not follow recommended procedures. The goal of this study was to characterize how patients in four different acute care specialist services felt about their risk of falling while in the hospital.
Methods: One hundred patients admitted to the study hospital with a Morse Fall Scale score of 45 or higher were given the Patient Perception Questionnaire, a tool designed to assess a patient's perception of their own fall risk, fear of falling, and motivation to take part in fall prevention efforts. Scores on the Morse Fall Scale were gathered through a historical assessment of medical records. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and independent sample t tests were used to examine the data.
Results: The average age was 65, and around half (52%) were men and half (48%) were women. Based on their ratings on the Morse Fall Scale, all 100 participants were classified as being at high risk for falls. However, only 55.5% of the individuals agreed with this assessment. The likelihood that a patient would seek assistance and the degree to which they feared falling both declined as their faith in their mobility improved. Patients hospitalized after a fall exhibited considerably lower confidence scores and greater fear scores than patients who had not been injured in a fall.
Conclusions: Patients who have a high fall risk assessment score may not believe they are at risk for falls and may not take any steps to reduce their risk. The prevalence of falls in hospitals might be mitigated by the creation of a fall risk assessment technique that takes into account both objective and subjective factors.

Article Details

How to Cite
Wafa Hassan Essa Miqdam, Reem Ali Othman Sfiani, Kholud Ali Mohammed Alshehri, Etemad M ELyass Eisa, Tahany Ahmed Mohammed Mahnash, Zainab Ahmed Mohammed Alnahwi, Seham Meesh Thamil Alharbi, Abeer Sultan Saad Aldarsoni, Shahad Ahmed R Alsamel, Naif Hamoud Dh Alotaibi, Azizah Hamad J Alanazi, Jamal Metrib M Alghareeb, Majed Mohammad Alhenaki, Fahad Abdullah S Alruthaya, & Hammad Egab Almutairi. (2023). Perceived Risk of falls among Acute Care Patients. International Journal of Medical Science and Clinical Research Studies, 3(9), 2007–2012. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmscrs/v3-i9-38
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Articles

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